Clarkvision Photography – Resolution of the Human Eye.
Although partially off-topic, I’ve always wondered about the resolution of our eyes. I never got to researching it at any depth, but it’s one of those recurring questions I’d have while waiting in line somewhere or driving. Beyond that, I also wondered what the ‘refresh rate’ of our eye was. These two questions would kind of stop at my realization that there are things that are ‘too small to be seen by the naked eye’ and that objects can move ‘faster than the naked eye’ so that said, there must be both resolution and ‘refresh rate’ limits in place.
This article doesn’t cover much about the refresh rate question I still have, but has tons of information about the human eye.
Comments
Hey Jonathan,
your question should be andwered here: http://clarkvision.com/imagedetail/eye-resolution.html
But keep in mind that the eye does not work like a camera, shooting still frames and lining them up, it rather shows you only what you want to see at detail and all the rest as gloomy shadows (so you can still spot the tiger attacking from behind). I think that some virtual realities utilise this by tracking eye movement and rendering only the areas looked at in great detail.
The eyes themselves don’t have a refresh rate, but our brain does. It’s dependent on our brainwave’s frequency. I’m trying to find the article for you, but I’m not coming up with any free ones. I think I remember reading it from this article, but you have to be a subscriber: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427311.300-timewarp-how-your-brain-creates-the-fourth-dimension.html
I look through my stack of mags to see if I can find it. Basically, the frame rate is very quick, but it’s there. It’s what causes the wheel phenomenon, where a car’s wheel (as the car accelerates) looks like it slows down, stops and then rotates backwards. It’s because of the wheels rotating speed and the “frame rate” or wave frequency of our brain. When the wheel stops, the wheel is traveling one revolution at the same time our brain has cycled one wave. So to our brain, the wheel does not look like it moved.
Really intersting stuff, so you asked a very good question. I comment again if I can find you the raw information.
Justin
Okay, I’m pretty sure that was the article, but in print it had a different title — “How your mind warps time”. If you are super-interested, I can scan the whole article and send it to you. It’s a very rare look at something that is very fascinating. Let me know.
Justin